happy friday. coming up on "early today," hazardous windchills and frostbite are serious concerns in certain parts of the country this morning. today, vice president biden takes his gun violence prevention on the road after senator feinstein looks to ban 150 specific assault weapons but the nra says not so fast. a new stomach bug is called the ferrari of viruses. it's fast-mong, highly contagious and u.s. health officials say it's taking over the u.s. all that, and manti te'o's bizarre explanation. destruction for safety's sake. we'll take you to the place where the sun is are warm, the wind is steady and life is good. "early today" right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for friday, january 25th, 2013.

good morning. i'm richard lui. bitterly cold arctic air is gripping parts of the nation this morning for a third straight day. as you can see single digit temperatures are causing rivers to freeze in the boston area. and in methuen, massachusetts, amazing pictures show the spicket rivers falls frozen solid. here in new york, you can see the famous fountain in bryant park is covered in ice. bill karins will have much more on the deep freeze. in the aftermath of the shootings in newtown, connecticut a new bill to propose the bill for assault weapons it be proposed. dianne feinstein names a bill that includes 150 firearms and semiautomatic rifles and pistols and it would ban ammunition clips holding more than ten rounds but would exempt more than 200 hunting weapons. would not affect weapons that

americans own for ploem texas. -- for home protection. the nra responded to the bill saying they are confident congress will reject it and finestein herself said the bill faces an uphill battle to win approval. the senate has approved moderate changes to its rules on filibusters. the procedural delays used to kill some bills in nomination. senate majority leader harry reid worked out a deal with republicans that will allow bills to be brought up for debate more quickly. and limit discussion on certain white house nominations. and not require senators to stay on the floor talking the whole time as some senators wanted. the changes were overwhelmingly approved. >> vice president biden and cabinet secretaries and members of congress traveled to virginia for a round table discussion on reducing gun violence. there's a new strain of a nasty stomach bug that's been called the ferrari of stomach viruss.

it's caused by the new sidney strain of norovirus. north korea is hinting at a third nuclear test along with taking measures against south korea if it enforces sanctions. in washington today hundreds of thousands of anti-abortion activist from across the country are expect opened the national mall for the annual march for life. tracie potts is live on capitol hill for us. this week marks the 40th anniversary of the supreme court's roe v. wade decision. will protests be larger than usual? >> reporter: because of the anniversary which fell on the day after inauguration so instead of having these two huge events back-to-back they bunched this one over to friday. in the last 40 years one of the biggest changes had been state laws, just in the last couple of years there have been 135 new restrictions mainly by republican legislators on

abortion and that has some pro choice activists concerned. they say the big issue is now access. our latest nbc/wall street journal poll shows public opinion is still firmly behind roe v. wade with seven out of ten saying it should be the law of the land. those who disagree will be on the mall today. thousands of them, and among the speakers republican house speaker john boehner and former republican presidential candidate rick santorum. >> thank you. manti te'o speaks in his first on-camera interview since the girlfriend hoax story broke. thursday, te'o told katie couric he was absolutely not in on the prank. and that he was a victim. he admitted to misleading journalists by sticking to the story after the fact saying he was scared. te'o played couric a voice mail message left to him by the

unidentified woman. >> hi, i'm just letting you know i got here and i'm getting ready for my first session and just want to call you and keep you posted. i miss you and love you. >> te'o addressed questions about his sexuality. >> one of the theories, many theories, manti, making the rounds is somehow you created this whole scenario to cover up your sexual orientation. are you gay? >> no. far from it. far from it. >> te'o told couric the man who perpetrated that hoax has apologized. new video of swift water rescue in northeast australia. a 14-year-old boy was caught by these raging floodwaters. he's clinging to a tree for a deer life. 20 similar rescues had been reported in the region over the past two days.

after remnants of a tropical cyclone dumped huge amounts of rain on the region. bill karins, not only south of the equator, we got stuff happening north of the equator. >> freezing cold and rainy california. another morning of rain in southern cal. its heading over the top of the los angeles area. long beach, laguna, owing side will get rain this morning and eventually san diego too. this has its sight set on l.a. heading due northward and batch of heavier stuff coming up to los angeles. not moving too far inland it will be lighter amounts as we get up to san bernardino. san diego, most of it is off the coast. i think san diego you're probably going to have likely period of rain. a little slow there. a front big huge storm went up just north of juneau last night.

cooling things off. this will bring changing weather pattern for the weekend. we'll linger with this trough and cause scattered showers and a lot of clouds and cooler temperatures. batch of rain this morning with that cutoff upper low that's dying off the coast. that's why we'll have the chance of rain from phoenix to l.a. today. the front to north and continues through your weekend. that okay. california the rainiest weather of the weekend is this morning. speaking of weekend forecast that will be coming right up. looking forward to that. up next medical science's real life "star trek" tracker beam plus layoffs ahead for the airlines. why are the brits blowing up

these trains. what to watch on wall street. jan's final friday. you're watching "early today" only on nbc.

welcome back. here are some other stories making news this morning. citizens of britain, germany, canada and the netherlands are being urged to get out of benghazi, libya, because of what's called an imminent threat against westerners. the warning follows the deadly attack in syria. in utah an unusual freezing rain forcing the closing of salt lake city airport. dozens of flights and hundreds of passengers were delayed for more than three hours. and 180 car accidents were reported, but there were no major injuries. in england, researchers are blowing up trains. controlled blasts of trains are conducted, and then they study data for better bomb proofing and safer trains in the future.

>> it sounds like a gadget out of "star trek". scientists in scotland and the czech republic said they demonstrated the first track beam. it can pull tiny particles of water towards the beam of light. sadly it only works on these tiny particles. and a man in turkey has set a world record for driving backwards. he's already driven twisting roads for 18 miles, but he wants to get to 60 miles to break the current 40 miles guinness record. that was setback in 2008. why? now a look at stocks today for you. the dow opens at 13,825 after gaining 46 points yesterday. the s&p and nasdaq were mixed. overseas, the nikkei shot up 305 points, but the hang seng fell 18. turning to more business headlines. today, investors are going to want to keep a close eye on a few things. first, united airlines is going to chop about 600 jobs through buyouts and layoffs.

netflix, shares jumped 42%. with strong quarterly earnings. after peaking in the $700 range, apple is down 36%. the question everyone is asking, how low will they go. next to new home sales which some estimate to be at 400,000 for december. if that number is accurate, it would be a very good sign for the economy. and i'm sure you've seen the frenzy over subway's one-inch short controversy. sandwich lovers aren't too happy. and some filed class action lawsuits claiming the footlong is only 11 inches long. even the six inch sub doesn't measure up too. the suit says customers are owed a refund for the portion of the sandwich that they've not been receiving. subway has declined to comment on the lawsuit. a spokesman said the restaurant chain has redoubled efforts to

ensure consistency in every sandwich we have. straight ahead, a super size controversy surroundg the super bowl's superdome. plus, what is this, is it a bird, a plane, a man? we'll tell you. you're watching "early today."

we have some fresh video out of south africa. wrestlers are trying to capture

1,000 crocodiles. rising floodwaters across the region forced the farm's owners to open their gates and free the c om crocs. fire broke out at a multifamily home in eastern massachusetts yesterday afternoon. firefighters from several companies helped everyone get out safe. now the red cross is doing what they can to help those displaced by that fire. now, to our nation's capital where two united airlines planes clipped wings at dulles international airport. the flight arriving from brussels scraped the wing of an empty plane. and there were no reports of injuries. in michigan, an eighth grader with downs syndrome earned his 15 minutes while in uniform. owen grosser didn't get much playing time as the manager of the basketball team but for the final moment, the coach put owen on the court where he hit two three-pointers. bam, right there. the students launched a twitter

campaign to get owen on espn' "sportscenter." he was featured as one of the top ten highlights. go owen. in new orleans, the king cakes, carrying on another tradition. operation we care has sent over 20,000 care packages to troops overseas and on base since 2003. their way of saying thanks with patriotic cakes and boxes from children decorated. and the quantum key west regatta. dozens of teams around the world are braving sunny skies and 70 degree temperatures for the prestigious event which ends today. turning now to sports, we start with college basketball. michigan versus purdue. number two ranked michigan got 15 points from trey burke and they easily beat purdue 58-53. the wolverines are hoping to move up to number one next week since top ranked duke lost. go blue. now to the nba, toronto's

demare derosen beat the buzzer. the raptors edged the atlanta magic 97-95. at the australian open tennis, top ranked novak djokovic cruised to a win against spain's david ferrer. djokovic moves on to sunday's finals. well, a judge in new orleans says the city must scale back for what's called a clean zone around the super dome for super bowl week. there's restrictions on banner flags and signs around the dome but not in other areas of new orleans. a spectacular snow mobile wipe out on the first day of the x games. he crashed his sled during a backward attempt in the free style. that was the finals. fortunately he was able to walk away from that. and a strange object was seen at the pga farmers insurance open at torrey pines in southern california. was it a bird, a plane, superman? well, it was in fact a large superman image on a glider promoting a new golf shoe.

>> "early today" sports brought to you by just for men autostop. gray is over. well, entertainment news is just ahead, including a possibility of lance armstrong on "dancing with the stars"? plus, a teen vandalized a 93-year-old word war ii veteran's home. what happens next may surprise you as "early today" continues right after these messages.

welcome back.

we have rain heading into southern california. already raining light inn los angeles, san diego. a batch large rain head urge way during the peak of the rush hour. interstate 5 drive carefully. rain showers up there to the north. as far as the forecast will go, what we're looking at is kind of the worst of it this morning with the rainy weather. this weekend it looks a lot worse than it is. chance of showers ever lie where and a trough will kick through. temperatures will be cooler. not a lot of sunshine out there. so not a lot of sun for the west but not going wash out your weekend either. >> i hate it when troughs linger. >> you learned something today. >> i'm not doing anything just reading the prompter. if you're looking for entertainment, you might want to skip the movies this weekend. there are three new releases and none screened by critics. little buzz and little marketing will amount to a small take at the box office.

"hansel and gretel witch hunters" turned out to be a real movie not just a practical movie. it opens in over 3,000 theaters this week assuring it will finish in first place. some big "star wars" news, j.j. abrams is now said to be the director of the upcoming episode "seven" "revolution," and recently the "star trek" franchise. that last point has fans miffed simply one man can't direct both franchises. >> i'm in a cave. i didn't know there was another one. michael buble has big news of his own. the singer and his wife are expecting their first child. and they announced the news with the ultrasound video. 2013 will be a big year for buble he's also releasing his new album. weird looking at those videos. and earlier this week, we told you about lindsay lohan turning down "dancing with the stars." well, now lance armstrong has also turned down the competition reality show. armstrong has reportedly been asked to join the show many

times. he might do it next year. >> maybe next season on his way back. the next one comes from kprc in houston, texas, where a story of vandalism has a happy ending, 93-year-old albert wood had just lost his wife weeks ago and he came home to find his house vandalized and burgled by two local teens. the father of the teen came to apologize and volunteered his sons for the hard labor of cleanup. >> i'm richard lui. this is just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

from the president's historic inauguration to serena williams' midgame meltdown. let's take a look back at the week that was. >> reporter: well this week was a cold one with subzero temperatures hitting around the country, but that didn't stop the crowds from going d.c. for president obama's inauguration. it was tiring at times for one of the obama daughters, and michelle couldn't stop this eye roll from going viral. before leaving the president took in the moment. meanwhile, the "today" show's al roker had his own unforgettable moment. and in the end, it all left us wondering did beyonce lip-synch her performance? >> yes! >> after, it was back to work on capitol hill where republicans in congress grilled hillary clinton on the benghazi attack.

>> the fact is we had four dead americans. was it because of a protest or because of guys out for a walk one night decided to go kill americans. >> emotions rose high in d.c. where serena williams took it out on a racket. turns out she wasn't a sore loser just sore. but the tweak of the week, this justin bieber photo. it put him over the edge. with 30 million followers, bieber barely beat out lady gaga. and now to georgia where seniors are taking aim. >> did i hit anything? >> luckily, a train in madrid didn't hit anything after a woman fainted on the track and was saved by an off duty officer. and the same goes for this camera person who had a close call with a stunt plane. >> what was he doing there >> i don't know. he wasn't suppose tlobd. >> with landing strips you can't

tell they are landing strips. >> it was a very busy week. bill karins, i hope you have a good weekend. >> i will. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments on those stories and the best political analysis on msnbc. and tonight, be sure to watch "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. what was supposed to be an exciting adventure for american tourists in peru turned into a terrifying ordeal involving an ambush and a kidnapping. details on that on that harrowing. and what does the refrigerator say to you, this morning joy bauer and her husband put it to the test as we peek inside their kitchens. keep it on this channel for continuing local news, sports and more. i'm richard lui. along with bill karins. thanks for watching "early today." this, your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.